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Rugby Union

http://www.rugby365.com/COUNTRY_BY_COUNTRY/Scotland/Country_News/story_44901.shtml

A new treatment unveiled by Scottish doctors could soon spell the end for a lock forward's classic personal hallmark: the cauliflower ear.

I thought it was rather a good look myself :)
 
I was at a lunch today that was also attended by ex England captain Will Carling. He said that apparently the day before the first game of the Lions tour the team were having a meal and Lawrence Dallaglio asked the backs he was sitting with (Peel etc) whether they knew what the game plan was. When he was met by a universal "no" he took it on himself to work something out with them. Carling confirmed that the tour was a mess and Clive was "erratic".

He pointed out that Sir Clives long term record wasn't that good and that as far as many are concerned, Martin Johnson (with Dallaglio and Back)effectively coached the World Cup team. He joked "you'd reckon Clive would have noticed that they never followed his game plan!". Said he couldn't believe he went on to the Lions tour - he should have retired a World Cup winner. (No argument there...)
 
None of that actually surprises me TGN, it just confirms what was fairly obvious out on the field....total disharmony!!!

But look at it this way, if he had retired after the win in '03, then we would have never had the total amusement of watching him get his ass kicked both here (Wallaby win 50-15 last year) and mutiple times across the ditch (England last year, Lions this year).

We would also have missed out on his appalling lack of sportsmanship and arrogance following these rather massive losses, and therefore we would have definately been disppointed to not witness his complete and utter downfall!!!

I for one have rather enjoyed watching that >:D !!!
 
QueenC said:
None of that actually surprises me TGN, it just confirms what was fairly obvious out on the field....total disharmony!!!

But look at it this way, if he had retired after the win in '03, then we would have never had the total amusement of watching him get his ass kicked both here (Wallaby win 50-15 last year) and mutiple times across the ditch (England last year, Lions this year).

We would also have missed out on his appalling lack of sportsmanship and arrogance following these rather massive losses, and therefore we would have definately been disppointed to not witness his complete and utter downfall!!!

I for one have rather enjoyed watching that >:D !!!
Click to expand...

Nicely said Queenie!
 
Well, I have to say that was a rather disappointing performance by the Wallabies against the Springboks last night. They struggled to kick our ass 33 - 20, which was actually a flattering scoreline for the Wallabies, who struggled in the line-outs, scrums and loose.

We were out muscled, out run and completely out played for most of the match. Even when they had people in the bin we still couldn't put any points on the board. They had two binned during the course of the match and were damn lucky not to have numerous others as they continued to infringe by playing off side (with plenty of warnings and penalties from the ref) and putting their hands in the ruck, which was never penalised but was one of the reasons for so many turnovers when the ball went to ground.

It would have been nice (and hopefully this doesn't come across like sour grapes) if the refereeing was even handed, which it wasn't, especially in the first half. With penalties given to the Boks and thus three points and advantage only given to the Wallabies, which means a scrum feed, for the same infringments. It also would have been nice if the Saffies were actually kept from constantly playing off side all afternoon, they were never on side and this did stop the Aussie run, because they were permanently in their face.

I don't think the Wallaby coaching staff actually know how to win in South Africa, because this is really becoming a (mental) problem. It has been years since we have beaten the Boks on their home turf (the Wallabies having not won at Ellis Park since 1963). Not that they have beaten us on ours all that frequently, but we were the better side going in to this match IMO, especially after a comanding performance in Sydney, which the Springboks were heavily criticised for, a couple fo weeks ago (which I had the fun of being at), and in the end it looked like we were mauled, which we totally were.

The two intercept tries we threw for them was some of the worst decision making errors I have seen in a long time. The first one is almost excusable, but the second was shocking. Stirling Mortlock (back in the side at the expense of Morgan Turinui, which I will not get into because I am too disappointed) should have known better than to throw a hail Mary pass to a stationary target with opposition players running the line straight at him.

Unfortunately when you give the opposition a start like that there is very little you can do and that is exactly what happened. There was a couple of consolation tries to Stephen Larkham and Jeremy Paul (the first was scored by David Lyons) in the last fifteen minutes but by then we had to make up more than twenty points, which was never going to happen.

I hope that Schalk Burger gets looked at during the week by the judiciary for his unbelievably high therefore illegal hit on poor old Rocky Elsom, who I don't think knew his own name when he was leaving the field. Burger was binned (as he usually is at some point during nearly all matches he plays in) but it was an unnecessary hit that should be scrutinized by the SANZA judiciary. Unfortunately they make the AFL tribunal look like consumate professionals!!!

Anyway we get another crack at them in the first Tri-Nations match on the 30th July in Pretoria, so hopefully we will have learned plenty from losing the Mandela Plate (South Africa keep the Challenge Plate because they were the defending champions, if it was on for and against we would have won it) and will fix all problems and thrash the Boks next week and therefore break this unfortunate record in South Africa and start the Tri-Nations with an all important away win.
 
And now Matt Henjak has been sent home from South Africa for having a public argument with Loti Tuqiri in a Cape Town bar.

Henjak apparently has a history of bad public behaviour (Brumbies 1999), and the fact that he threw his drink at another patron then "faught" with a team mate probably doesn't help his image, or that of the travelling Wallabies.

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,16053732-23217,00.html (Henjak in altercation with Tuqiri)
 
Appears the drinking culture in Australian rugby is getting a little out of hand. How the hell can you perform at optimum level for your country less than 48 hours after a big night on the grog?

'Henjak tip of alcohol iceberg'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16070475%255E2722,00.html
 
Given what happened to the Wallabies 48 hours later, my guess is you absolutely can't perform at any kind of level for your country after a big night out on the grog......

Hopefully this week will be an improvement :-\ !!!
 
Well the record stands, we may never win in South Africa.....

Although that performance was a hell of a lot better than the previous one.

Maybe there wasn't the same extra-curricular activities before this match as there was a fortnight ago.

But while there wasn't a struck match between the two sides for most of the game, it doesn't change the fact that the Wallabies lost to the Boks again on their home soil and that is a huge mental hurdle to overcome in the future.

Just maybe we can exact some kind of revenge when they play here again in a few weeks, because it is nothing if not predictable. Dominant home team. The Springboks are a completely different side away from home, even more so than the Wallabies.

Maybe the All Blacks can bring them down to size next week. It will be a very interesting test match.....

Then, all we have to do is beat the Kiwis in a fortnight.....easy  ;) ;D ::) !!!
 
Match reports:-

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,16105700-32463,00.html (Wallabies nailed in cliffhanger)

http://www.rugby.com.au/news/boks_hold_off_brave_wallabies,31218.html/section/21893

http://www.planetrugby.com/Tournaments/Tri_Nations/story_45113.shtml (Boots win it for the Boks)
 
I thought they looked ok too Queenie. They kicked a lot more which enabled them to control the game better but the backs didn't seem to put it together when we needed to press home. I wasn't sure Mortlock was out there for a while and Latham again made a couple of key mistakes when a score looked likely.

We managed to steal a lot of ball but didn't come up with much for our efforts.

I haven't seen all of their recent games but one thing seems to be the same - why does Wendell consistently fall over as he tries to change direction just before he is about to be tackled? Drives me nuts and has done for years. :mad: Go the long stops mate!
 
Thats what I though TC. I was having this discussion over dinner last night with friends, one of whom is a mad keen sports fan and was convinced they had won 20 or so years ago. :-\
 
Australia are yet to record a win in Pretoria, and were lucky to get so close to the Boks because yet again they struggled in the basics.

http://www.rugbyheaven.smh.com.au/articles/2005/07/31/1122144062444.html

Only going by what I read Crystal

There is a hoodoo too, but I can't find the relevant link
 
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